Side shift raise climbing system

ABSTRACT

A side-shift raise climbing system is provided that utilizes a side-cut excavated into the wall of the access drift for a raise in a mine. A transfer section is incorporated into the existing length of rail servicing the raise. The transfer section includes a laterally transferable rail that can be detached from the existing rail and shifted along a set of monorails that extend into the side-cut. The transfer section enables a raise climber, when parked thereon, to be shifted out of the access drift without requiring additional access drifts or parking/nesting areas to accommodate the use of muck removal equipment.

This application claims priority from U.S. Application No. 60/972,380filed on Sep. 14, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to raise climbing systems.

BACKGROUND

It is sometimes required in an underground mine, to provide access froma lower level L thereof to an upper level U thereof, as shown in FIG. 1.A mine owner may request that a raise excavation R be created from thelower level L to the upper level U, which is of a certainsize/configuration and length. The raise R may be used to serve avariety of purposes such as air ventilation, secondary personnelaccess/egress or as material dump chutes.

To create the raise excavation R, a pilot or access drift A is firstexcavated from the main mine drift D to the proposed raise location.This provides access to the raise R for both personnel and muck removalequipment (not shown). As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a muck pile Mtypically forms at the bottom of the raise R as it is being excavated.

An additional excavation N is typically made into the pilot or accessdrift A immediately adjacent to the raise location, to install a dockingnest or parking area P for raise climbing equipment commonly referred toas a ‘raise climber’ or raise climbing system and denoted herein bynumeral 10. The raise climber 10 travels along a rail 12 and is used tostart and muck the raise excavation R as is well known in the art. Asthe raise R is excavated, muck piles M accumulate at the bottom of theraise R and are then removed. The additional excavation N enables theraise climber 10 to retreat into the access drift A and avoid contactwith the falling debris.

To assist personnel in loading/unloading and entering/exiting the raiseclimber 10, a suspended deck, typically made of timber is hung at theproposed parking area P. The decking can be suspended using a series ofchains/turnbuckles or other devices. The lower level of the access driftA is then clear for access by the mucking equipment so that the materialcan be removed as required. The parking area P can also be used bypersonnel to load supplies and to move into and out of the site.

A typical process for excavating a raise R includes driving the raiseclimber 10 to the face of the raise R, drilling a round of holes,loading the holes with explosives, returning to the parking area P,detonating the explosives, clearing the muck, adding rail 12 asnecessary, and repeating until the raise R reaches the upper level U.

Problems with traditional parking areas P at raise excavation sites,e.g. as shown in FIG. 2, is that it is, i) often considered costly toexcavate; ii) cannot typically be reused for any beneficial purpose oncethe raise R has been excavated; and iii) due to the relatively largeexcavation required, there is an added measure of instability in theparking area P that needs to be rectified with additional rockstabilization methods. As such, this upper area (excavation) N not onlyincreases effort and cost required to prepare the access drift A for theraise R, it has little or no value after the raise excavation isfinished.

Another problem is that, although moving the raise climber 10 into theadditional excavation N and above the parking area P removes the raiseclimber 10 from the direct path of the falling debris accumulating inthe muck pile M, both the raise climber 10 and the decking timber maystill interfere with the muck removal equipment and would requireregular maintenance and repairs. The elevated work platform alsointroduces safety concerns as access for workers and materials isprovided via a ladder way. The raise end of the platform has limitedprotection as the raise climber 10 traverses the area on its way to andfrom the raise R.

It is therefore an object of the following to address the above-noteddisadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It has been found that to avoid the added instability, expense andeffort associated with the additional excavation N, and to avoid theadditional cost of the timber, hanging rods and ladder access requiredto install a parking area P used in the prior art; a lateral excavationor “side-cut” can be excavated into a side wall of the pilot or accessdrift A and a transfer rail system used to move the raise climber asidewhen not in use. In this way, clearance can be made for muckingequipment and the raise climber can be safely stowed during blasting.

In one aspect, there is provided a transfer assembly for transferring araise climber out of an access drift, the transfer assembly comprising:a modified rail being sized to fit in alignment with an existing railand to provide continuity therebetween for permitting the raise climberto drive from the modified rail onto the existing rail; one or moresupports attached to and extending upwardly from the modified rail andpositioned along the modified rail to be aligned with correspondingtransfer rails extending from the access drift into a side-cut in theaccess drift; and a trolley at an upper end of each support, eachsupport sized to provide vertical alignment of the trolley with acorresponding transfer rail when the transfer assembly is aligned withthe existing raise climber rail, each trolley configured to suspend fromand be moveable along the corresponding transfer rail to permit movementof the transfer assembly laterally with respect to the existing rail andinto the side-cut.

In another aspect, there is provided a method for modifying an accessdrift in a mine to incorporate a parking area for a raise climber, themethod comprising: installing in a side-cut in the access drift, one ormore transfer rails extending from an existing rail for the raiseclimber into the side-cut; providing a modified rail sized to fit inalignment with the existing rail and to provide continuity therebetweenfor permitting the raise climber to drive from the modified rail ontothe existing rail; providing one or more supports extending upwardlyfrom the modified rail and positioned along the modified rail to bealigned with corresponding transfer rails; providing a trolley on eachsupport, each trolley configured to suspend from and be moveable alongthe corresponding transfer rail; and suspending the modified rail fromthe transfer rails by suspending each trolley from a correspondingtransfer rail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of exampleonly with reference to the appended drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a prior art nesting station for araise climber.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the nesting station of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a side-shift nesting station for araise climber.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the nesting station of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the nesting station shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a set of side-shift rails and a trolleyand transfer section.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view along the line A-A of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an end view along line E of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view along the line B-B of FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged end elevation view of the portion B shown in FIG.6.

FIG. 11 is side elevation view of the portion shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged end elevation view of the portion C shown in FIG.6.

FIG. 13 is a side elevation view of the portion shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged perspective view of the portion D shown in FIG.6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to FIG. 3, to avoid the added instability, cost and timeassociated with the additional excavation N, and to avoid the additionalcost of the timber, hanging rods and ladder access required to install aparking area P used in the prior art; in the following system, aside-cut 14 is excavated into a side wall of the pilot or access driftA.

Not only are the costs and additional materials associated with theprior art configuration shown in FIG. 1 avoided during excavation of theraise R, but the side-cut 14 can be reused at a later time forelectrical services, equipment storage, shelter etc. Moreover, theinstability created by further excavation of the access drift A isavoided. Further still, the side-cut 14 enables a raise climber 10 to beshifted out of the access drift A and in turn out of the way of muckingequipment, avoiding the need for another drift in order to access thebottom of the raise R for muck removal. As such, the side-cut 14 isparticularly suitable for mine environments such as those shown in FIG.1-3 where only a single access drift A is used to provide access to theraise R.

The side-cut 14 is excavated into the side wall of the pilot or accessdrift A prior to starting the raise R, to a depth that preferably canentirely contain the raise climber 10 as best seen in FIG. 5. Theside-cut 14 is also preferably stabilized once it has been cut, in amanner similar to the surrounding drift A. Since the side-cut 14 enablesthe raise climber 10 to hang much closer to the floor of the drift Athan previous parking areas P, the raise climber 10 can be loadeddirectly from a more accessible platform supported on the floor of thedrift A or the floor itself without requiring a ladder to access theequipment. The side-cut 14 can be excavated at any desired positionalong the drift A and is typically excavated at a similar position aswhere the traditional timber decking would hang.

In order to utilize the side-cut 14 for docking the raise climber 10, asection of the rail 12 is replaced at a position adjacent the side-cut14, with a transfer assembly or transfer section 16 as shown in FIGS. 4and 5. The transfer section 16 enables existing rail 12 and an existingraise climber 10 to be used with the side-cut 14 while avoiding the needfor a suspended timber decking and ladder and the additional excavationN required to accommodate such decking.

As can be seen schematically in FIG. 5, the transfer section 16 can movebetween a first position in alignment with the existing rail 12 and asecond position within the side-cut 14 along a set of corresponding,laterally extending transfer rails 26. To provide stability for thetransfer rails 26, one or more crossbeams 25 may be attached to and spanthe set of transfer rails 26 as exemplified in FIG. 5. It will beappreciated that, as discussed below, each transfer rail 26 ispreferably rock bolted to the ceiling of the side-cut 14, commonlyreferred to as the ‘back’, and thus the crossbeams 25 may only berequired for additional stability. Also, one, two or greater than threecrossbeams 25 can be used as desired. Similarly, fewer or greater thanthree transfer rails 26 can be used, depending on the overall stabilityof the existing rails 12, the size of the raise climber 10 and otherfactors specific to the jobsite and application. Stability may also beprovided using variations of the above-noted examples. For example, theoutside transfer rails 26 can be rock bolted and the middle transferrail 26 secured thereto using only the crossbeams 25. As such, it can beseen that the transfer rails 26 can be adapted to suit any requirementsof the jobsite and equipment being used. As will be discussed in greaterdetail below, the transfer section 16 inherently disrupts the continuityof services that are traditionally supplied through the rails 12, sinceit can be moved out of alignment with the existing rails 12. As shown inFIG. 5, the services can be redirected to a service header 32 positionedbetween the transfer section 16 and the raise-side of the existing rail12 using a series of pipes 11 or similar hoses or other connections asneeded.

The transfer section 16 and transfer rails 26 are shown in greaterdetail in FIG. 6. It will be appreciated that the proportions in FIG. 6are exaggerated for ease of illustration. The transfer section 16includes a modified climber rail 20 that is suspended below one or moretrolleys 22 using corresponding supports 24. The trolleys 22 areconfigured to hang from and slide over corresponding ones of thetransfer rails 26 that are oriented perpendicular to the rail 12 andperpendicular to the modified rail 20 such that they extend into theside-cut 14. As shown by way of example only in FIG. 6, the transferrails 26 may be constructed from steel I-beams, which provide a pair ofopposite tracks on which the trolleys 22 can travel. The trolleys 22 aresecured to the supports 24, which in turn are secured to the modifiedclimber rail 20. In this example, the outer transfer rails 26 supportnon-powered trolleys 22 while the middle transfer rail 26 supports apowered trolley 22′. The powered trolley 22′ comprises a drive system(explained below) which in this example is powered by an air supplysystem 31 and controlled using a control box 29. It will be appreciatedthat any suitable drive system can be used and the air supplied drivesystem described herein is for illustrative purposes only. It may benoted however that an air supplied system is particularly convenient dueto the existing air services typically installed in the access drift Afor other purposes such as driving the raise climber 10.

The trolleys 22, 22′, the supports 24 and the modified rail 20 can besecured using any suitable fasteners such as bolts or rivets or mayinstead be welded together. Examples of such attachment will bedescribed in detail below. Preferably, the components of the transfer 6section 16 are removably securable to each other (e.g. using bolts) tofacilitate installation, removal and maintenance of the transfer section16. It will be appreciated that although only one trolley 22 is required(e.g. the middle drive trolley 22′), more than one trolley 22 ispreferable for added stability, and it has been found that a set ofthree trolleys 22 is suitable.

As noted above, the transfer rails 26 may be rock bolted to the back ofthe side-cut 14 and this may be done using one or more rock bolts 28attached to the transfer rails 26 and suspended from the back of theside-cut 14. The rock bolts 28 can be similar to the rock bolt 28 usedto suspend the rail 12. In FIG. 6, four rock bolt assemblies 28′ areshown, however, it will be appreciated that any number of rock boltassemblies 28′ can be used. The transfer rails 26 are also preferablyrock bolted at the far end to the innermost wall of the side-cut 14. Toinhibit movement of the transfer section 16 off of the transfer rails26, each transfer rail 26 may include a stopper 27 at one or both ends,in this example using a plate welded to the I-beams at each end. It canalso be seen in FIG. 6 that the crossbeams 25 are advantageouslyattached across the tops of the transfer rails 16 so as to not interferewith movement of the trolleys 22, 22′.

The modified transfer rail 20 includes the usual drive track 30 thatinteracts with the raise climber's drive sprocket (not shown). As shownin FIGS. 7-9, to maintain alignment of the drive track 30 with the drivetrack 30 of preceding and subsequent lengths of rail 12, the transferrail 20 is secured to the regular track using an alignment bolt 42 ateach end. Each length of rail 12 and the modified rail 20, includes aflange 36 at each end, which is positioned on the underside thereof.Along a centreline of the rail 12 or modified rail 20 is a hole, athreaded one at one end and a through-hole at the other. In this way, aregular length of rail 12 can be secured to the next length of rail 12,or as shown in FIG. 7, with the modified transfer rail 20, whilemaintaining alignment of the drive track 30. The alignment bolt 42, whentightened, secures the modified transfer rail 20 and thus the transfersection 16 in place such that the raise climber 10 can move out of thedrift A and into the raise R per usual operation.

In traditional raise climbing systems such as that shown in FIG. 1, andas noted above in discussion of FIG. 5, a series of services are fedalong the rail 12 using a series of pipes 11. To avoid disrupting theservices when using the side-cut 14 and transfer section 16, the serviceheader 32 can be used, which directs the services and pipes 11 into therail 12 ahead of the transfer section 16 as also shown in FIG. 6. Inthis way, as the transfer section 16 is moved into and out of alignmentwith the rail 12, the creation of a gap in the service piping 11 isavoided. The service header 32 is interposed between the transfersection 16 and the remaining rail 12 as shown in FIG. 6.

Turning now to FIGS. 10 and 11, further detail of the non-poweredtrolleys 22 is shown. Each trolley 22 includes a pair of arms 25connected and spaced from each other using a shaft 40. The arms 25define a central channel 23 to allow passage of the lower tracks of thetransfer rail 26 therebetween as the trolley 22 moves into and out ofthe side-cut 14. The arms 25 also provide supports for mounting a set oftrolley wheels 34. The trolley wheels 34 are mounted on the alms 25 suchthat they ride along the upper surface of the tracks provided by thetransfer rails 26, with the shaft 40 and modified rail 20 suspendedbeneath the wheels 34. It has been found that a set of four trolleywheels 34 (with a set of three trolleys 22, 22′ as shown) is sufficientto support the weight of a typical raise climber 10 (e.g. two wheels 34per arm 25 as shown in FIG. 11). However, it will be appreciated thatadditional trolley wheels 34 and/or additional trolleys 22 andcorresponding transfer rails 26 may be added to accommodate heavierequipment or to provide further carrying capacity and stability. Also,as discussed above, one or two transfer rails 26 with correspondingtrolleys 22 can be used if sized and structured for adequate strengthand stability when moving the raise climber 10 into and out of theside-cut 14. It can therefore be seen that the transfer section 16 andmonorails 26 can be arranged in any number of ways. In order to suspendthe modified rail 20 below the aims 25, the shaft 40 is used in thisexample to suspend a bracket 42, which is bolted 46 to an upper platform44 formed with or attached to (e.g. welded to) the support 24 which, asdiscussed above, is in turn attached to the modified rail 20.

FIGS. 12 and 13 provide further detail of the powered trolley 22′wherein similar elements with respect to FIGS. 10 and 11 are given likenumerals with a prime (′) and same elements are given like numerals. Thepowered trolley 22′ includes a similar pair of arms 25′ to support a setof drive wheels 46, which is this example are toothed such that they canbe driven by a drive motor 50. In this example, a pair of shafts 40′ areused to support and space the arms 25′ and a similar bracket 42′ isadapted accordingly to accommodate such shafts 40′. The drive motor 50in this example is air powered and is controlled by a transmission 52,for which air is provided through an air manifold 54. A forward driveair line 56 and a reverse drive air line 58 are attached to the manifold54. The forward line 56, when actuated, drives the trolley 22′ into theside-cut 14 and the reverse line 58, when actuated, drives the trolley22′ out of the side-cut.

To avoid obstructing the movement of the transfer section 16, the airlines 56, 58 can be bundled using a tie 60 that can be adapted to betethered to a cable 62 suspended laterally across the access drift A andside-cut 14. As discussed, any suitable drive system can be used and theair supplied system is shown for illustrative purposes only. Also, adrive system may not be required, e.g. if the raise climber 10 can bemoved using external equipment or personnel. In such an alternative, apowered trolley 22′ would not be required and instead, three non-poweredtrolleys 22 would suffice.

As discussed above, the transfer rails 26 may be rock bolted to the backof the side-cut 14 using one or more rock bolts 28. It has been foundthat each rock bolt 28 shown in FIG. 6 is advantageously a set of rockbolts 28 providing the rock bolt assembly 28′ as shown in FIG. 14. Inthis example, four rock bolts 28 a, 28 b, 28 c and 28 d are bolted 66 toa base plate 64 which is in turn attached, e.g. by welding, to thetransfer rail 26. The rock bolt assembly 28′ can include any number ofrock bolts 28 and the set of four shown in FIG. 14 is for illustrativepurposes only.

Once the side-cut 14 has been excavated at the appropriate location, thetransfer rails 26 may then be installed such that they extend from therail 12 to the innermost wall of the side-cut 14. The transfer rails 26are suspended by a series of rock bolt assemblies 28′ and rock bolted tothe innermost wall of the side-cut 14. The transfer rails 26 should beparallel to and level with each other and substantially perpendicular tothe rail 12 passing through the drift A, to encourage axial alignment ofthe modified transfer rail 20 and the adjacent lengths of rail 12. Thetransfer section 16 may then be suspended from the transfer rails 26 bysliding the tracks of the bottom portion of the I-beams through thecentral channel 23 such that the wheels 34, 34′ sit atop the tracks asshown in FIGS. 10 and 12.

The transfer section 16, when suspended from the transfer rails 26, isfree to slide into and out of the side-cut 14, with the raise climber 10suspended from the transfer section 16, as shown in FIG. 5. To thenstart the raise R, the transfer section 16 is secured in line with therail 12 using the alignment bolts 42. The raise climber 10 may then movefrom the transfer section 16, along the rail 12, and into the raise R.As per usual operation, the crew would drive the raise climber 10 to theface of the raise R, drill off a round of holes, load the holes withexplosives, and then return the raise climber 10 to the drift A. Theraise climber 10 is then parked on the modified transfer rail 20, thealignment bolts 42 removed, and the transfer section 16 shiftedlaterally into the side-cut 14 along the transfer rails 26, and thus outof the access drift A. The explosives may then be detonated and the muckpile removed. During detonation and muck removal, the raise climber 10is safely parked away from falling debris and other hazards. When theaccess drift A is clear, the transfer section 16 and parked raiseclimber 10, can be moved together out of the side-cut 14 and in linewith the rail 12. The alignment bolts 42 are then reattached and theraise climber 10 can repeat the blasting or other work performed in theraise R.

It can be appreciated that once the raise R is completely excavated andthe raise climber 10 no longer needed, the side-cut 14 can be reused forelectrical services, storage, shelter etc. The pilot drift A does notneed to be enlarged to accommodate the suspended timber decking andladder and thus the inherent added instability is avoided.

It can therefore be seen that the added instability, expense and effortassociated with the additional excavation N as well as the additionalcost of the timber, hanging rods and ladder access required to install aparking area P used in the prior art can be avoided by using the systemdiscussed above, in particular by excavating a side-cut 14 into a sidewall of the pilot or access drift A and providing a transfer rail 20 toshift the raise climber 10, when parked, into the side-cut 14. In thisway, the instability created by further excavation of the access drift Ais avoided. Moreover, the side-cut 14 enables a raise climber 10 to beshifted out of the access drift A and in turn out of the way of muckingequipment, avoiding the need for another drift in order to access thebottom of the raise R for muck removal. It has been found that theside-cut 14 is particularly suitable for mine environments such as thoseshown in FIG. 1-3 where only a single access drift A provides access tothe raise R. Additionally, all items use to create the system describedabove can be reused at the next setup site with the exception of therock bolts thus enabling this configuration to be reused.

Although the invention has been described with reference to certainspecific embodiments, various modifications thereof will be apparent tothose skilled in the art.

1. A transfer assembly for transferring a raise climber out of an accessdrift, said transfer assembly comprising: a modified rail being sized tofit in alignment with an existing rail and to provide continuitytherebetween for permitting said raise climber to drive from saidmodified rail onto said existing rail; one or more supports attached toand extending upwardly from said modified rail and positioned along saidmodified rail to be aligned with corresponding transfer rails extendingfrom said access drift into a side-cut in said access drift; and atrolley at an upper end of each support, each support sized to providevertical alignment of said trolley with a corresponding transfer railwhen said transfer assembly is aligned with said existing raise climberrail, each trolley configured to suspend from and be moveable along saidcorresponding transfer rail to permit movement of said transfer assemblylaterally with respect to said existing rail and into said side-cut. 2.The assembly according to claim 1 further comprising one or more of saidtransfer rails configured to be suspended from a back in said side-cut.3. The assembly according to claim 2 comprising at least two transferrails and further comprising at least one crossbeam attached to said atleast two transfer rails.
 4. The assembly according to claim 2 whereinsaid one or more transfer rails are suspended from said back using rockbolts.
 5. The assembly according to claim 4 comprising a series of rockbolt assemblies for each transfer rail, each rock bolt assemblycomprising a plurality of rock bolts sized to extend from said transferrails to said back.
 6. The assembly according to claim 2 comprisingthree transfer rails, three corresponding trolleys and threecorresponding supports in alignment with each other.
 7. The assemblyaccording to claim 1 further comprising at least one alignment bolt forsecuring said modified rail in alignment with said existing rail.
 8. Theassembly according to claim 1 further comprising a service manifoldconfigured to fit between said modified rail and said existing rail toredirect mine services into said existing rail.
 9. The assemblyaccording to claim 1 wherein one of said one or more trolleys is poweredby a drive system.
 10. The assembly according to claim 9 wherein saiddrive system is air powered and comprises a control box for controllingmovement of said powered trolley along a corresponding transfer rail.11. The assembly according to claim 10 wherein air supply lines for saiddrive system are tethered to a cable for guiding said air supply linesduring movement of said transfer assembly.
 12. A method for modifying anaccess drift in a mine to incorporate a parking area for a raiseclimber, said method comprising: installing in a side-cut in said accessdrift, one or more transfer rails extending from an existing rail forsaid raise climber into said side-cut; providing a modified rail sizedto fit in alignment with said existing rail and to provide continuitytherebetween for permitting said raise climber to drive from saidmodified rail onto said existing rail; providing one or more supportsextending upwardly from said modified rail and positioned along saidmodified rail to be aligned with corresponding transfer rails; providinga trolley on each support, each trolley configured to suspend from andbe moveable along said corresponding transfer rail; and suspending saidmodified rail from said transfer rails by suspending each trolley from acorresponding transfer rail.
 13. The method according to claim 12wherein said installing comprises rock bolting said transfer rails to aback of said side-cut.
 14. The method according to claim 12 wherein oneof said trolleys comprises a drive system.
 15. The method according toclaim 14 wherein said drive system is air powered and further comprisingproviding an air supply to said drive system and providing a control boxfor controlling movement of said powered trolley along a correspondingtransfer rail.
 16. The method according to claim 15 further comprisingtethering said air supply to a cable for guiding said air supply duringmovement of said transfer assembly.